


Yesterday isn't today,

by Hope_World03



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Voltron Secret Santa 2016, its basically just fluff, voltron ss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 16:08:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9079846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hope_World03/pseuds/Hope_World03
Summary: Lance transfers to a new academy and has to partner with Keith for a school project, just flat out high school dorks.This is my gift for Oranji-Chan! Have a happy holiday!





	

Most people's interests are based on experience and skill, others probability and will, yet some are completely unaware of the idea of choice -- following those around them without a voice.  
The real question is: how are these people raised? Or rather, why? 

The only situation in which this might occur would be: in a household, that focuses on logical standings, rather than any other emotional conditioning -- thus leaving little to no room for any sense of experimental creativity. Meaning that one, or many, are raised in an area that majorly or entirely, revolves around a stereotypically 'more rational' point of view. Practically revoking all childish mentality from anyone under said guardians protection or supervision. Therefore, some would say the scenario at hand is highly improbable, whereas others would claim merely unlikely and most would be indifferent to the idea.

I present to you the living exception to those previous disbeliefs; * a boy who speaks on consistent standpoints, and despite them being valid answers, the ideas are completely stripped of any passionate responsiveness -- the kind you regularly hear from those around you -- leaving his answers barren and without the zeal they rightfully deserve, without him noticing. Yet, this normally unmanageable issue could be altered by an uncharted possibility, not included because of the unlikelihood of the change. The one to cause a significant change, in his current manner, would possess the ability to convert others perspectives' easily. They would cause a formidable shift in the inner workings of his mind. 

Firstly, we'll enter the one who betters lives unintentionally and while bearing a selfless grin.  
\------  
His own soft snores echoed across the hollow room luring him further into a deep sleep. Accidentally, allowing his mind to lull into an untruthful state of serenity. Only to have his alarm practically scream inside his ear, alerting him that it would be in his ‘best interests’ to get his half-awake mind ready. That is, instead of lying down in bed, which truthfully sounds far more appealing to his waking body.

Groaning slightly, he rolled off of the bed and stood up properly to turn off the alarm clock. Leaning towards to glance at the small digital screen, he read the numbers, flashing brightly against the dark undertones of the clock. They displayed 6:00 AM, to which he could only sigh in disarray. That admittedly was a mistake. He had clearly forgotten to adjust his clock to today's schedule, considering how he had planned to get up at seven. Either way, he realized he'd have to get up sooner or later, with that said, he dragged his feet across the wooden flooring to reach his destination: the dresser, which he decided to place his uniform upon yesterday. Lazily shuffling out of his night wear, he yawned and got dressed with only slight difficulty -- which he felt mandatory to admit was a victory alone.  
\----  
The trip to school was everything but graceful. His bike chain came off and he ended up swerving and popping a tire on the sharp bike trail -which was completely downhill. Unsurprisingly, causing him to fall, littering his jacket with spots of dirt kneaded in by pebbles. Needless to say, he was seriously unprepared for today's events. Groaning slightly, He gradually made his way to the school's gates, dragging his bike carelessly alongside.  
\----  
His entrance wasn't as grand as he expected it to be. No fireworks or congratulations or happy grins, but rather glares and scoffs at his choppy appearance. Not that he could blame them,

He was late. Almost unbelievably so,  
\----  
His short brown hair was messy and worn, as he carried a dirtied coat -- that he had to wear across his forearm like a sad excuse for a Butler -- and a blue pendant, unfortunately, was present against his tanned skin and white dress shirt -- the rules of the school had been akin to others, yet jewellery was strictly not allowed -- without a chance to explain himself honorably, the teacher presented him to the class in a seemingly judging tone. “Class, please welcome our new student,” She harshly glared at him. Noticing his cue, he nodded quickly, this was a chance to at least introduce himself with some pride. Or at least something akin to it, today’s standard was set extremely low. 

“Lance Mcclain,” His smile remained warm and welcoming despite their lack of interest. He definitely wasn’t going to have someone else dictate his actions based on his introduction, 

“Go sit down,” She ordered in a pompous tone, almost mocking his unprofessional appearance. Not wanting to waste her time, he moved to the back of the classroom.

\-- She’s not the kindest, that’s for sure. With her acting above me and stuff, there’s no way she can expect teenagers to act perfectly -- no one is capable of doing that. How’d she even get a job teaching, that’s what I wanna know. Clearly hates children, or just me, either way: my point remains. --

“Mcclain,” With a sudden glance upwards, the realization hits him, someone was talking to him. He nearly chokes on his own spit trying to answer quickly,

“Yes?’ An untimely pause, “Ma’am?” 

“Seeing as you weren’t paying attention to me earlier, I’ll repeat myself, ‘We are going to be working as partners for the first writing assignment of the year.’ Lance,” She replied coldly. “Your partner will be Keith,” she quickly turned around and scoffed, once again facing the board and instructing others. 

The scenario was less than ideal. For starters, he had to partner with someone currently unidentified, write an assignment that would appeal to his monster of a teacher, fix his bike -- or walk home and worry mama again -- and learn everyone’s name. To make matters worse, it had to be completed in less than 5 hours. This was going to be interesting, to say the least. 

After an unreasonably long period, of asking questions, he figured out where ‘Keith’ might be, but no reason as to why he wasn’t there in the classroom. Which, despite it being very peculiar, didn’t raise too many questions. His plan was set into motion, when the first ‘free period’ came along, he began searching for him. Unfortunately getting lost in the academy.  
\----  
After a painstakingly large amount of stairs and intersecting hallways, he found the ‘Roof Entrance” staircase -- even though it was the ‘top’ of the school, it was genuinely hard to find -- they seemed almost specifically unused. Coated in a thick dust, with no trace of fingerprints or change. He carefully walked up and, not knowing what to exactly expect from this other student, he entered with obvious hesitation. 

Honestly, ‘he’ wasn't hard to find at all, considering how the rooftop was one, completely unused and barren, two, didn’t usually allow student access and three, he was placed bluntly against the light blues of the school. Wearing a woolen red scarf, contrasting against the uniforms gray spectrum, that his long black tangled hair weaved into. His book held tightly in his hand, nearly blocked by the heavy scarf. As he sat beside the doorway, clearly unfazed by the other boys’ entrance -- despite sitting directly opposite to the door hinges -- he didn’t flinch or move, that is, until the other boy began. 

“Uhm- I’m really sorry to bother you, but uh- I’m Lance Mcclain?” Even to himself, it sounded more like a question than a fully fledged statement. “And we have an assignment together. It’s my first day here, so I’m not quite sure what the necessary criteria is..” Lance breathes in deeply before, “I was wondering if you could teach me?” comes tumbling out, immediate regret fills him -- this isn’t how he wanted their first interaction to go -- awkwardly and quickly, he looks down at the boy, biting the inside of his mouth bitterly. 

“What was that?” the other boy questions as he glances upwards, almost harshly because of the sudden interruption. “Who are you exactly.” The other boy stares at him expectantly, almost as if he didn’t understand something, but he had explained himself hadn’t he?

“I- what? I just told you, I’m? Lance?” The other boy visibly stiffens,

“No,” Keith sighed, relaxing slightly, “Like which class, -- and who told you I’d be here?” He shifted his weight to the opposite leg and he began to stand up. As the other boy tried to recite the names of those who told him information, rather than naming everyone in the class. 

“Advanced English, Miss Brooks-” He squints, trying to remember everyone’s class numbers, “I think it’s ‘205’?” Offering his hand to the other boy to assist his way up, “It’s gonna be difficult remembering-”

“You’ll be fine,” Keith remarked almost robotically, grabbing his hand, “ --Or at least that’s what I believe-- Where do you want to begin,” He stumbled. “On the project, I mean-” 

“Hmm,” Lance paced around the open rooftop, “I guess we could go to one of our houses, at least?” He stopped in front of Keith, “Is yours okay?” He looked intently at the other, 

“No.” The shorter boy glared roughly at the ground, squinting as if he had lost his sight. 

“So mine it is then,” Lance grinned and rubbed his own neck, faintly hearing the ‘free periods’ dismissal bell. “Guess I’ll see you later then,” he swayed his head sideways and started to run down the stairs, readying himself for the beginning of a new lesson, luckily, this time he remembered the location.  
\---  
The day ended faster than he expected, he smiled as he rushed out of the classroom, heading downstairs to the academies front entrance. He would have to walk home, and this time it wasn’t purely because he messed up his bike, now he had a different excuse for his absence: Keith.  
\---  
The boy was hard to miss, scowling and tucked into a large scarf, which only made the expression more amusing. Lance laughed as he pointed in the direction they would be walking, it was only a few blocks away - but it was uphill, which is why he preferred biking. Only to have the other boy trail slowly behind him, clearly not interested in starting anything remotely like a conversation. Therefore, the trip home was silent and tense, despite Lance’s attempts. He felt relieved to finally reach his house.  
\---  
“Mama! We’re here!” He shouted, -- he had texted her briefly to state that he brought his partner -- as he shuffled off his Converse and threw his backpack aside. Influencing Keith to do the same. Yet Keith only awkwardly stood in response, until he received a verbal ‘It’s okay’, further confusing the other boy. No one had ever seemed so out of place in his household before, the boy hummed thinking of what to say to his peer. How would Keith react to meeting all of his family? He didn’t seem overly timid, but in this moment, his actions were worrisome. Maybe, they should just start working on the papers, it wasn’t like he was obligated to say something. They weren’t even actual friends, were they? 

Looking straight ahead into the hallway connected to the kitchen, he decides to go left into the living room. “Lively, as usual, I see?” Lance chuckles looking over at his younger siblings, Mateo, Rosa and Cleo, jumping on the armchairs and couches placed around the room. They only laughed and giggled in response as he walked over to greet Rosa, lifting her into the air and spinning her around. “How’s my ~favorite~ baby sister?” He cooed as she laughed. 

“Hey-!” Cleo shrieked and half-heartedly smacked his shoulder, grinning as she grabbed Mateo. 

“Mijo!” Lance’s mother walked downstairs, and she seemed to be unsurprised by Keith. Thankful, Lance smiled at her and quickly went to grab his notes and drag Keith over to the couch. Since they should’ve started a while ago, yet he could hardly ‘refuse’ talking to his siblings. “You brought your partner right?” She smiled, “Does he want anything to eat?” a long pause followed as Lance looked between the two, waiting for one of them to respond. 

“Ah- No, thank you.” Keith bowed his head down, clearly unsure of what to say. Yet she just smiled.

“Okay,- just call me if you change your mind.”  
\----  
The actual writing process wasn’t all that complicated, to his surprise, they didn’t disagree often nor had immensely different opinions of the topic. Allowing them some ‘extra time’ to learn small details about one another. Time passed quickly as the boys conversed, almost entirely forgetting the assignment -- even though it wasn’t due for another week, it was still important -- as the day continued. Unsurprisingly, it was near five when they checked the time. 

Keith left, almost reluctantly, going downhill back to his house after they said ‘Goodbye’ even though he was going to return the next day.  
\----  
The next few weeks weren't all that different, his classmates appeared blank, his teachers were slightly crude, once again his score twinned with Keith’s for the daily requirement tests -- both at the top of the class more often than not -- which started a tiny rivalry between the two, and a seemingly endless amount of stairs to climb. Nothing changed, that is, if you didn’t include Keith. 

“Hey, do you want to come over to my house?” He mumbled as they walked through the door. He didn’t seem overly confident with the statement, so Lance agreed joyfully.

“That’d be great, lead the way!”  
\----  
Needless to say, out of all the estimations he made about Keith’s home, this didn’t come close to any of them. He shouldn’t be surprised, he knows that, but... The house was luxurious and clean, yet those living inside were comparable to real life book villains, with their forgettable faces and contrasting attitude - which was thickened with tension and adult superiority. He was frightened by merely standing in the household’s doorway. It didn’t help that they had stopped to talk to Keith, filled only with spite.

Yet their speech was littered with tiny lies and quick sentences, “You’ll be fine - Do better - Why aren’t you trying-” sickeningly said without remorse. “Why can’t you follow orders?”  
\----  
“I’m sorry,” Keith whispered as they finally dispersed after the lecture. 

“You’re insane,” Lance mumbled as he stretched his arms forwards, popping his shoulder blades, waiting for his reaction.

“I- I-” Keith began only to be cut off again, appearing broken.

“You’re intelligent -- you’re currently winning the bet too -- easy to work with, a good listener-” Lance counted everything on his fingers until he ran out, only looking upwards when he was finished. The expression on Keith’s face only persuaded him to continue. “-And personally, I could care less about who your family is, they aren’t you, clearly. We’re friends, after all, I should know. ”  
\----

Keith couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was something he’d never heard before, therefore never believed.

Words upon sentences, spurring into paragraphs, brimmed with complex conversations. Over-exceeding accomplishments, followed by an acceptable truth; told to those of old and new. Successful standpoints and other formations are all prime examples of literature expectations to pursue. Yet, none relayed such an obvious factor, compared to the one spoken before him, now. A simplified statement based on such a flimsy idea. Bluntly put without hesitation -- leaving him wondering how it was said without doubt, even despite the sentence being unsurprising and small -- reducing its' effect. A warm encouraging spark that claimed “We’re friends after all,” a repeated rhythm that filled his ears. Halting the thoughts he previously believed to be true about himself. 

Keith breathed in deeply, only now noticing that he was holding his breath. He couldn’t believe this was happening since it never had before. 

“Thank you,” He breathed out finally. Relief flooding his mind gracefully.  
\----  
Lance grinned in response as he grabbed Keith’s hand, “We have work to do, don’t we?” He leaned away from the doorframe, unlike many before.

Keith smiled gently and lead the way. His scarf was thrown to the floor yet,

He wasn’t hard to find at all. 

~ Fin ~


End file.
